Happy New Year Everyone!
Hey, here's a quick question that I wanted to clear up, about two food items here in China:
Are chicken breasts and pork tenderloins both considered 2nd/3rd rate cuts of meat?
The reason I ask is that I've run across them at Walmart and Carrefour, packed in plastic and priced very low. By "low", I don't just mean low for the U.S.. They are priced way lower than other chicken and pork cuts in China.
I'd heard that the Chinese generally prefer dark meat chicken, and I'd noticed that most of the prepared chicken-on-skewers seemed to be white meat. But, when I started seeing pork tenderoins sold for around 9 kuai, I really began to wonder. (Back home, chicken breast is typically about $4-6 a pound. A single pork tenderloin can be $6-8, a piece.)
So, is this just a matter of different supply and demand sensibilities, or is this just distressed meat that is being marked down for quick sale?
I think it is because the Chinese focus on adding as much flavor of the animal as possible to their dishes, so dark meat with bones and marrow have much more flavor than all white-meat chicken breasts. But hey, you get your preferred cut for cheap!
Love flavour and love the fat. Some people will even buy the fattiest meat they can find. Ground pork (mince) here is often almost white. Did you ever wonder what the juice in a pork bun is?
Tenderloins and chicken breast don't have the golden ingredient of fat.
Must be the case, mmk. I made dinner with one pack of the pork tenderloins tonight. I half-expected the meat to be a bit on the ripe side, or even to not be real tenderloin. Not the case. It was a really fresh, really sweet-smelling, quality pork tenderloin. I fried it with some chili and garlic. It totally melted in my mouth. I'm still trying to figure out why its so cheap...but, I think I'll just follow my bliss on this one. :)
Chicken breasts are flavorless and need added fat. But many classic recipes are made with chicken breasts.
Chicken Parm - marinara sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheese. pure bliss.
Chicken can't remember the name - dip in flour, dip in eggs, fry, add sauce with butter and white wine. pure bliss.
And then there's the Chinese classic Gong Bao Ji Ding
All hail the mighty Chicken Breast!
It's so ironic how one society's waste product is another's blue plate special.
My father grew up in British India, at a time when the Brits preferred to boil their rice and eat the strained grains. What they weren't aware of was that they were boiling out all of the vitamins and minerals and producing a nutritionally-inert meal. Over time, the servants learned to save this water and drink it, for its nutritional value.
Thank goodness I love dark meat chicken. They seem to put it in everything, including fast food sandwiches.
Mag, just before I left the U.S., I ate at this nice Italian restaurant in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia (just south of D.C.). I had this dish that looked insanely simple, but turned out to be one of the best things I'd ever had. Just a thinly sliced chicken breast, salted, seared, and finished in a bit of white wine & butter with some green peas. I haven't even attempted to eat Italian here because I fear the potential disappointment.
Mangiamo's might be one of the better options in Kunming for Italian food. It's listed here. Maybe you can have a look at the reviews.
If you have refined tastes, take a trip to Hong Kong once a year or every couple of years.
Interesting story about your father, by the way.
Mag, its a bit off-topic, but I discovered some shockingly good Italian-tasting Chinese food a few months back. There's this fake Ikea store on the Western side of Dongfeng Lu. Right next to it there is this Muslim restaurant where they make hand-pulled noodles, in view of the sidewalk. They make this super cheap noodle dish that could easily be mistaken for authentic Italian. It is was just their noodles, tossed in a fried tomatoes, oil, and a bit of chili. (I could swear there's some basil in it, as well.) All that was missing was some grated parm and a loaf of crusty pane. If I lived closer, I'd be eating that 2-3 times a week.
I know that there must be some decent Italian here. I've seen some good local ingredients.
Muslim noodles are a cheap imitation of the real thing.
Just like that guy who calls himself "Le magnifique" currently posting an ad in the classifieds.
Don't settle for anything less than the original!
sorry, that was my feeble attempt at humor.
the muslim noodles are amazing, but the tomato sauce is a bit watery, making it a borderline soup, so it's not exactly the same dish.
and yeah, big difference with grated parmesan. carry grated parm with you wherever you go, and when you see a muslim joint pop in and pull the parm out of your pocket and you're all set.
